In the latest chapter of the ongoing Mideast power struggle between government censorship and free speech, the government of Saudi Arabia has won another round by banning the use of VoIP messaging application Viber.
Observers say the move comes in part due to the governments’ inability to monitor the app, as well as a lack of funding from local telecom companies into government coffers.
Saudi Arabia’s Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) said in a statement on its website: “The Viber application has been suspended … and the (regulator) affirms it will take appropriate action against any other applications or services if they fail to comply with regulatory requirements and rules in force in the kingdom.” What exactly those specific “requirements and rules” are, was not made clear in the statement.
The CITC had announced earlier this year that it was watching Viber and other free Internet communications sites, including WhatsApp and Skype (News - Alert).
Mideast news site Albawaba said the government acted swiftly after the ban was announced: “Attempts to use Viber on various smartphones yesterday were met with messages of ‘No Service’ and ‘Blocked,’” the website said. “[Viber] is popular among Arab expatriates because it has an Arabic version and works on all operating systems and wireless networks.”
Conventional international calls and texts are a lucrative earner for telecom operators in Saudi Arabia, which hosts around nine million expatriates. These foreign workers are increasingly using Internet-based applications such as Viber to communicate with relatives in other countries, analysts say. Yet with Skype and WhatsApp currently available (for now, anyway), those expats still have a choice for free communication.
But the Saudi government had put all three services on notice back in March, when it said it wanted a local server to monitor user activity. Back then, it gave all three companies a week to comply, and now with more than two months passing, this latest move against Viber might serve as a wakeup call to Skype and WhatsApp. Both companies can either comply or await a further government clampdown.
Edited by Blaise McNamee